While Russian ally Bashar al-Assad was being toppled by rebels in Syria, another friend of Moscow, President Faustin-Archange Touadéra, was being chaperoned by Kremlin-backed mercenaries in the conflict-ridden Central African Republic (CAR), where armed groups are yearning to oust him.
“Without the protection of Wagner (a private Russian military force), he (Touadéra) could not be president at this time,” Aboubakar Siddick, spokesperson for an alliance of rebel groups in CAR, known as the Coalition of Patriots for Change (CPC-F), told CNN.
Siddick said that the CPC-F rebels were feeling “inspired” by Assad’s ouster, stating: “Touadéra’s dismissal is imperative.” “This is connected to the fact that we are developing relations with the Central African Republic in all possible areas, including highly sensitive areas related to security. And we intend to develop this cooperation further,” said Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov ahead of the meeting.
Decades of conflict in CAR mirror the instability in other fragile African states where reliance on Russia’s military offerings has become increasingly prevalent, amid an aggressive push by Moscow to lessen Western influence on the continent.
As Russia’s foothold in Africa expands – notably in the mineral-rich Sahel region that is beset by recurring coups, armed rebellion and extremist insurgency – anti-Western sentiments, partly fueled by Russian propaganda, are engineering the exit of Western troops from swathes of territory. The Kremlin is the most favored to fill the vacuum they leave. Moscow is also a sought-after partner by non-French former colonies such as Equatorial Guinea, which hosts an estimated 200 military instructors deployed by Russia in November to protect the Central African nation’s presidency. Its authoritarian leader President Teodoro Obiang, 82, has ruled the tiny, oil-rich country for 45 years following a coup in 1979.
Outside West and Central Africa, Russia is bolstering its presence in the continent’s north, where Wagner forces back eastern Libya’s de facto ruler, Gen. Khalifa Haftar. Following Assad’s ouster as Syrian leader last month, Moscow has operated multiple flights to and from an airbase in eastern Libya — some headed to Mali, CNN found — suggesting a shift from the Syrian bases that have served as a hub for its military operations in Africa and the Mediterranean region.French President Emmanuel Macron last week slammed African leaders for showing “ingratitude” over the deployment of his nation’s troops in the Sahel, saying that Sahel states only remained sovereign because of the arrival of French forces.
Macron also dismissed the notion that French troops had been expelled from the region, adding that France was only “reorganizing itself” on the continent. “We left because there were coups d’état… France no longer had a place there because we are not the auxiliaries of putschists.”
A US State Department report published last February outlined how Kremlin-funded disinformation had taken root across Africa with the creation of a pro-Russia news agency called the “African Initiative” — which, with the help of hired local journalists, markets Moscow to the continent while tarnishing the West’s reputation.
CAR’s army, bolstered by Russia’s Wagner mercenaries, United Nations forces and Rwandan troops, has battled to keep armed groups such as the CPC-F at bay and reclaim territory seized by rebels. But it is the Russians who are widely credited with helping the nation stave off collapse.
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